One of Tim Burton’s eerie films, Frankenweenie, was made in 2012 as a 3D stop-motion animated movie. It was made completely in black and white, fell into the genres of science fiction, horror, and comedy. It featured the iconic duo of the boy and his dog, which was a common small trope for most of his stop-motion movies. Many Tim Burton fans know about the stop-motion movie, but how surprising would it be to know that there was a live-action movie that came years before?
For those who have not seen either movie, there will be spoilers for the story of Frankenweenie. This post compares the 2012 stop-motion film Frankenweenie to the 1984 live-action film. Both films were directed by Tim Burton, and both versions of Frankenweenie are a parody and homage to Mary Shelley’s 1931 film, “Frankenstein,” which is based on her novel from 1818, “Frankenstein“.
Tim Burton
An American animator, director, writer, illustrator, and even producer. He created many gothic horror and fantasy films, and one of his films, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” still gets many views today. It even had a celebrated anniversary of when it was first released, showing how loved it was. Many of his old films are still watched annually, being perfect in setting the mood for Halloween, Frankenweenie is no different. His inspiration for his career festered from his childhood of watching scary movies, making him want to create his very own films one day.
The film was a co-production between him and Walt Disney Pictures and confirmed to be a remake of the 1984 Frankenweenie. There isn’t much information on what inspired him to create the story, but the dog, Frankenweenie, is confirmed to be inspired by his childhood pet, a white-fluffy dog named Pepe.
There is a theory that his films are all connected thanks to the common trope he tends to have for two particular characters, starting from this movie. The boy and his dog, alive, move on to the film Corpse Bride, where Victor has the same name as the boy from the movie and is reunited with his dog, who died years ago. After that comes the more unlikely theory of it being connected to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Some fans speculate that Victor may have turned into Jack Skellington after he died since Jack also has a pet, a ghost dog. It’s more interesting to read about those speculations in detail.
1984 Frankenweenie
1984 Frankenweenie was a live-action film, only 29 minutes long, with a different storyline. After Victor manages to bring his dog Sparky back to life, the neighbors and other townsfolk are upset because of his appearance. Victor gets into trouble, and when Sparky goes to save him, he dies again. The people, and hopefully the viewers, begin to understand that just because the dog was grotesque-looking, that didn’t change the fact that Sparky was still a good dog.
The story and lesson are similar to the original plot of Frankenstein, purposefully done in black and white as per Tim Burton’s adamant choice. The actor for the dog was an English Bull Terrier, also named Sparky. The film had more gore than the Claymation recreation, with realistic stitches and wires on Sparky to give him a similar disturbingly stitched appearance like Frankenstein.
2012 Frankenweenie
2012 Frankenweenie is a stop-motion film and was made long after Tim Burton was rehired by Disney. He made two Claymation films before recreating a full-length version of Frankenweenie. 90 minutes long with less gore since Disney still preferred to keep it child-friendly. The film was made in black and white, just like the previous one, as Tim Burton wouldn’t have it any other way.
This film follows the same lines as the previous, except in this version, Victor brings his dog to life when the other folks see his undead dog. Instead of judging, they use Victor’s knowledge to begin reviving their dead pets, and that’s how chaos ensues. The lesson in this recreation is understanding grief and the loss of loved ones, not forcing them to stay with us longer, and accepting death.
Frankenweenie 2012 and 1984
While both films were directed by Tim Burton and written by Leonard Ripps, they have different atmospheres, not just because of how they were filmed. The screenplay for the 2012 version was written by John August, and the first version was a short feature. Tim Burton was fired from Disney after the 1984 version was created due to how scary it was. There is an interesting period between the live-action short feature and the full-length movie he gets to recreate years later.
It is difficult to compare the two films regarding whether the live-action version or the stop-motion recreation is better since they were created under different circumstances. The 2012 recreation was made under better conditions, and the story’s presentation was less condensed since it was when Disney finally believed in and trusted Burton’s filmmaking ideas. He kept both films black and white as a form of nostalgia for all the black and white shows he used to watch and for the visual ambiance of the story. To him, a colorful world and background would ruin the atmosphere of the film.
Claymation vs. Live-Action
Claymation is an art form and a form of puppetry that helps in filmmaking when it comes to making scenes that would’ve required more money, materials, or CGI if it were a live-action scene. Since the sets for Claymation are typically small, all it takes is attention to detail and fixating on making the small props look accurate. However, Claymation, also known as stop-motion, takes a lot of time. Unless they are doing puppetry and moving the clay dolls, the only other way to get the scenes, characters, and background to different spots is to move the props and characters very carefully with each photo taken.
In live-action filmmaking, it’s more expensive since real-life actors need to be hired, and heavy props need to be put in place, which is more complex than creating a doll set for stop-motion. The difficulty in manipulating everything to ensure it follows the story, atmosphere, and whatever else the director may want depending on the film. A live set with actors working with life-size props may take months to film a movie, but it can take stop-motion years.
However, depending on how smoothly each scene is taken, it is normally done far faster than stop-motion, but even then, the time for filmmaking varies for both. There are live-action filming studios that take a long time to release high-quality movies, and there are channels on YouTube that regularly post multiple Animations. It all varies, really.
Conclusion
The 1984 Frankenweenie had live actors, props, and backgrounds, but it was of low quality due to the lack of trust or belief in Tim Burton’s filming style, especially considering his love for horror and attempting to make films for kids. In the 2012 Claymation version of Frankenweenie, Tim Burton could work more in his elements. They could make clay dolls that were more eerie-looking than humans, and there was no need for special effects, just clay props. In a way, the 2012 Claymation is better since it was created when Tim Burton had more support and his ideas were more accepted.
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